This invention relates to compound bows, and more specifically to cable guards used in compound bows. Compound bows are well known in the field of archery, an activity that involves skill, accuracy, and precision. When an arrow is fired, it is desirable to minimize any vertical travel and/or horizontal travel of the rear of the arrow shaft, in order to achieve consistent and accurate arrow launch.
Compound bows typically have a rotatable member at each end of the bow—of which at least one is typically a cam assembly, a first cable (e.g. a bow string) in communication with the rotatable members and a second cable (e.g. a power cable) in communication with the cam assembly. Some compound bows include an anchor cable, such as a one-cam bow, or multiple power cables, such as a two-cam bow.
Fixed, relatively stiff cable guards have previously been used to displace the power cable(s) and/or the anchor cable laterally, moving them out of the shooting plane proximate to the arrow's travel path. Such cable guards also prevent the arrow from contacting the displaced cable(s) during draw back and release. However, the lateral displacement generally applies a force to the rotatable members and to the bow's limb tips, which can result in undesirable nock travel during arrow launch. With modern compound bows having a shorter axle-to-axle distance between the rotatable members than prior bow designs, the negative effects of traditional cable guards have been amplified. The result is a need for novel cable guard designs that provide for a significant reduction in the forces applied to the free ends of the bow limbs as compared to prior designs.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/700,612 is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention, a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is also provided for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. §1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.